Hold It Against Me
by Citizenjess
Summary: "How to be Charles Xavier: Act like a smug dick." Charts Mystique's progress throughout late season two. Implied Magneto/Charles.


I loved how the big reveal at the end of season two with Mystique being Charles for part of the season is done so sneakily, and it also calls into question a lot of Mystique's motives and observations of the X-Men, etc. Summary: "How to be Charles Xavier: Act like a smug dick." Implied Mageto/Charles. Title is the name of a Britney Spears song.

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><p><strong>Hold It Against Me<strong>

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><p>The first part is almost painfully easy. She knows when Charles comes to the sanatorium to visit Wanda, has checked the records to see precisely when he arrives every month, and donning a disguise is, quite literally, like growing a second skin to her. When she claps a hand on his shoulder and he cranes his neck, Mystique delights in the slow-dawning realization that floods his face.<p>

"Mystique," Charles breathes. His eyes widen, and he starts to yell for help, but Mystique is prepared; a quick prick with a needle into his bicep, and tightly pressing her hand over Charles' mouth and nose to keep him from yelling out do the trick. Before long, he's putty in her hands and slumped over in his chair, out cold.

"'Night 'night," she murmurs, and then looks around. It will be simple enough to move Charles around the premises in his wheelchair, but it won't really be logical to take it along where they're going. Blinking, she waits for the familiar hallmarks of her transformation to take effect anew; of course, she thinks as she flexes newfound muscles and feels the cape flap behind her a bit, she won't have Magneto's magnetism powers to go with his steely build, but the considerable physical strength will nonetheless serve its purpose well enough.

Charles groans softly as she tugs him from his chair, buoyed gently in 'Magneto's' strong arms. She feels him curl instinctively against the broad chest, and snorts. "Pathetic," she murmurs; then she's bundling him into the car in the backseat, and slides behind the wheel, shedding the ridiculous transformation in favor of her natural blue form. "See to it that he remains asleep," she frowns, and Irene nods to her briskly.

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><p>She uses Magneto's body again to lift Charles into the chamber, after blithely convincing the Juggernaut to leave his unconscious half-brother be, before he takes off on his own alleged mission. The tube is completely filled with the substance that will keep Charles safely contained and helpless as a kitten before the bald man stirs, gaping at her. "Rise and shine, sleepy head," she smirks, and he glowers at her.<p>

"Mystique, what have you done? Is this the Juggernaut's containment cell? You can't just let him loose, he's incredibly dangerous, and ..."

"Too late, Charlie. He's probably catching the nearest train at this point." Charles stills, his hands coming up to press uselessly against the walls of his newfound prison. "Get comfortable, Xavier," she tells him smoothly, and depresses the button that will start infusing the chamber with something that will keep Charles trapped in his own consciousness. "I think you're going to be in there a while."

"No, wait. Please, Mystique, please, what's ... don't let anything happen to my students. Please ..."

"Ssshh," Mystique says mockingly. Soon, Charles' head is lolling, his body limp. The only noticeable signs of struggle is the pinched expression between his brows, and Mystique smirks as she takes her leave. "Next stop, Westchester," she acknowledges, and the door to the room closes with a heavy reverberation along the walls.

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><p>'How to be Charles Xavier,' Mystique thinks as she shoves Charles' extensive notes on Wanda Maximoff into the bag she's carrying. 'Act like a smug dick.'<p>

The subterfuge goes perfectly, at least at first. Charles' students fawn over him, and all Mystique has to do is offer some mindless prattling masquerading as sage advice, and they lap it up like eager puppies. Relying completely on the wheelchair for mobility is slightly more aggravating, particularly since her own legs are far from paralyzed; but, she thinks, watching two of Charles' mutant urchins running around on the front lawn, it's a small price to pay.

Still, pulling double duty is tiring. The Brotherhood seems relieved to see her, though her house leaves a lot to be desired; they scrabble to please her, even as she senses a strange, quiet rebellion from Pietro. She chalks it up to his mixed feelings regarding having Wanda back, and then chastises herself for the toll hanging around with all these silly teenagers is taking on her. Then she heads back to the Xavier mansion for an approximation of family dinner.

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><p>One thing she doesn't count on is all of the ways, both subtle and major, in which Charles' telepathy affects his ability to lead. She first runs into this when it comes to the use of Cerebro. "You've always told me it was too dangerous before," Jean Grey frowns, her face upset and drawn, and Mystique swears under her breath at how she's almost given herself up.<p>

"I think it's high time for you to learn," she replies eventually, layering on Charles' smarmy charm for all it's worth. Still, without his ability to use the machine herself, she has only to rely on what she's seen and heard. "No, it's too much!" Jean cries out after a trial run, and Mystique later hears (from Wolverine, who also seems rather suspicious around her, though Mystique can't help but wonder if that's just his way in general) that she's gone to bed with a terrible headache. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," Mystique mutters angrily to herself, and continues combing through Charles' private computer documents.

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><p>By far, Scott is the most difficult obstacle at the mansion. The boy is gruff and hotheaded, and for some reason, he rankles Mystique rather quickly. "You've never pushed us this hard before, I don't understand," he complains, and there's a hint of a plea in it. Mystique, as Charles, simply rolls her eyes.<p>

"The stakes have never been this high before," she snaps, and watches as Cyclops grits his teeth mutinously. Before long, she's sent him fleeing, to where, she can only guess. All that matters now is that her plan has nearly succeeded, she thinks, and finishes setting up the complicated self-destruct sequence to ensure that the mansion will effectively blow itself to bits. Then she gathers her hand-chosen collection of students - X-Men and Brotherhood alike, reluctantly paired together - in the Blackbird, intent on not letting anything ruin her victory this day.

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><p>The battle erupts full-scale. The X-Men are good, much better than the Brotherhood, at banding together and ferreting out information, and soon enough, they've located Magneto and initiated a counter-attack.<p>

Then, of course, everything goes wrong. The Sentinels are nasty things, powerful and intent on the destruction of mutantkind wherever it can be sought, and so suddenly their single-minded destruction of their greatest enemy becomes a desperate bid for survival against anti-mutant government-controlled robots.

"We're retreating! Get in the Blackbird, we've got to go now!" Mystique yells, and a glut of students reluctantly pile into the small aircraft alongside her. She considers leaving Magneto to deal with the cadre of robots currently bearing down on him, and then, almost instinctively, flicks a switch and sends a blast from the ship to take out one of the Sentinels. It sizzles and begins to implode slowly, and Magneto's gaze raises sharply, squinting into the daylight. 'It's what Xavier would have done,' Mystique thinks, and then begins to turn the plane around to head back to the probably now-decrepit remains of the Xavier Institute. "Where's Scott? we've got to find Scott," Jean frets, and Mystique grits her teeth.

"There's no time," she snaps, and Jean hunkers down unhappily in her seat as the plane rises in the air, leaving the current battle behind like so much refuse.


End file.
